Saturday, May 31, 2014

Christians Say "I'm Sorry" at Gay Pride Parade

June 1 is Winnipeg’s Gay Pride parade. Unlike in previous years,
there will be no Christians lining the route as part of the I’m Sorry campaign.
Here’s what I wrote last year about the campaign, and the response of local
LGBTQ members to it.

"I'm sorry."

That's what a group of
Winnipeg Christians will be saying from the sidelines on June 2 during the
annual Gay Pride Parade.

"Christians have
caused a great deal of harm and alienation for people in the LGBT
community," says Jamie Arpin-Ricci, pastor of Little Flowers Church in the
city's West End and organizer of the Winnipeg I'm Sorry campaign.

"As Christians we
have done wrong, and we want to say sorry," he says. "This is one way
of making an unqualified apology and publicly committing ourselves to do
better."

Christians who
participate in the Foundation's I'm Sorry campaign take the "I'm Sorry
pledge." Through it they commit themselves to "listening to the stories of others
and seeking to understand," striving to "make things better for the
LBGT community," and affirming "God's love for everyone."

Since starting at
Chicago's Gay Pride Parade in 2010, the I'm Sorry campaign has expanded to
Pride Parades in 20 other cities in the U.S., England, Scotland, Guatemala and
Canada.

The first I'm Sorry
campaign in Canada was held in 2012 in Winnipeg, when about a dozen people
from two congregations held signs offering their apologies.

"Hundreds of people marching in the parade stopped
to thank us, hug us, take pictures and ask questions."

Most moving for him, he
says, were those who shouted out: "We forgive you!"

As he looks ahead to
the 2013 I'm Sorry campaign, Arpin-Ricci acknowledges not all Christians
would agree with their effort.

But, he says, even those who believe
homosexuality is a sin could still agree that the church has treated gay people
badly over the centuries -- including "demonizing people's character and
intentions."

Plus, he adds, the I'm
Sorry campaign isn't about expressing a theological stance on homosexuality.

"More than
anything, all we want to do is show love and respect for all people, regardless
of orientation, as Christ would love them."

For Jonathan Niemczak,
president of the Pride Winnipeg Festival, the I'm Sorry campaign is a welcome
addition to the event.

"I think it's
great," he says, adding it's "an amazing campaign."

What Niemczak
particularly likes about the I'm Sorry campaign is how it presents a different
view of Christianity to the LGBT community.

Most gay people only
experience the church as "blasting out hate," he says. "It's
nice to see that there are some people in the Christian community who are
trying to help us."